Shenzhen authorities plan to build new Luohu co-location border crossing with Hong Kong, allow East Rail line extension for ‘seamless connectivity’

Mainland Chinese officials said on Sunday they would like to take the opportunity to redevelop the Luohu checkpoint, known as Lo Wu on the Hong Kong side, and cooperate with the city government to achieve to “seamless connectivity”.

Li Qian, deputy director of the Shenzhen Luohu District Development and Reform Office, said: “(Our plan is to) build a checkpoint in Luohu, with the adoption of co-location arrangements.

“With this arrangement, one can go from the central district of Luohu in Shenzhen to the central district of Hong Kong by rail in about 50 minutes. This can also allow greater integration and better development of the central districts of the two localities.

Shenzhen authorities have launched plans to redevelop the Luohu checkpoint in 2022.

There could also be a new railway station for a non-border crossing service between the existing Lo Wu station and Sheung Shui station, with a view to unlocking development potential around Lo Wu and Man Kam To and Sheung Shui North.

Under the co-location agreement, travelers would be able to pass Hong Kong and mainland border checks at a single location.

Such a device has been implemented at the West Kowloon high-speed rail station and the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint.

Currently, Shenzhen-bound Hong Kong passengers taking East Rail trains must get off at Lo Wu Station to pass the Hong Kong checkpoint and cross to Luohu checkpoint to pass Shenzhen Immigration and Customs.

Lo Wu is a major land border checkpoint, with the highest passenger traffic. It usually opens from 6:30 a.m. to midnight daily. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the Lo Wu checkpoint received more than 7.82 million arriving and departing visitors in 2019, or about 214,000 per day, according to Immigration Ministry statistics.

Meanwhile, Zuo Jinping, mayor of the People’s Government of Luohu District, also said on Sunday that he hopes to explore closer cooperation with the Hong Kong government in the development of e-commerce platforms in the area near the Liantang checkpoint, or Heung Yuen Wai checkpoint. on the Hong Kong side.

“We can cooperate to develop new industries there,” Zuo said.

Simon Lee Siu-po, honorary fellow of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Business at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said he believed that if the expansion plan materialized, it could facilitate the movement of people.

“The bad thing, of course, is the loss of retail and catering revenue (for Hong Kong),” Lee said. “But a smoother flow of people means less time spent. This is also a kind of advantage.

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Lee, a frequent traveler to Shenzhen, added that he hoped mainland customs would simplify clearance procedures after the checkpoint was redesigned.

“There is always a bottleneck. Even if a passenger does not have luggage, he or she still has to queue for customs clearance,” he said.

Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, lent his support to the idea, saying it would improve transport links between the two cities’ central districts and promote cross-border integration.

It would also free up more land in Hong Kong occupied by the MTR station and Lo Wu checkpoint, he said.

Chui estimated that the initiative would take years to complete due to the restructuring of Luohu district by mainland authorities and infrastructure changes required for the MTR rail lines.

Additional reporting by Danny Mok